Kernow Chilli Farm

Hi my name is Martin, I'm a graphic Designer/Illustrator from the South West of England, UK.

I've been comissioned by a friend to create a brand and label design for Kernow Chilli Farm. Kernow means Cornwall which is the most southerly county in the UK. KCF is a small "cottage industry" which sells organic chilli products, mainly sauces, flakes etc. All the chillis are grown in green houses around Cornwall.

I thought this class would be a perfect way to start the project as the client is very fond of vintage American culture. Specifically the Wild West and Wanted Posters etc. One of his sauces has a pirate theme and is named "Black Beards Ghost" and another is called "The Big Smoke" a smoked BBQ sauce. He thought maybe a native american vibe with peace pipe.

My moodboard is an edited collection of imagery I have chosen with the client. The typography, colours and illustrations are in a style we both wish to explore.

Another moodboard showing the Cornish flag and the shape of the county (state). Also shown are logos with the Cornish Chough which is a bird native to Cornwall and only found there. I've included a traditional Cornish Pastie too as it is a big part of Cornish culture.

I've also started sketching out ideas for the brand logo. Once I'm happy with a logo I'll start to apply it to one of the labels, probably the "Black Beards Ghost" pirate label.

As you can see I'm trying to incorporate a chilli and the Cornish flag to symbolise the brands strong Cornish roots. The type style is starting to take on an organic form which reflects the product and plants growing. I quite like where the sketch bottom right is going, it needs work but the overall feel seems to be going in the right direction.

This is the latest version, I'm happy with the word Kernow but Chilli Farm still needs to be refined. Not sure if I prefer the flag in th O or the chilli. Having fun though and happy with the progress so far.

Above is a pic of how the sauce labels look at the moment. The client really likes the font used here "Play Bill" the visuals I've been working on are a bit organic and off brand as he's been using this style for many years!

-

Below are a few more ideas for the logo. One of my colleagues came up with the Bull idea so I incorporated type in place of the head. The client seems to really like this idea so we worked it up digitaly, see below. For the purpose of this Skill Share I want to continue down the hand drawn route a bit longer.

We feel this direction works well as it incorporates the name, chillis and the wild west vibe the client was keen to hang onto.

Although I was liking my previous idea, looking back on it now it was way off brand and not right for the market we are aiming at. There is a large culture of macho chilli sauce fans who upload videos of themselves testing various hot sauces. We think the new logo should appeal to them!

I've also been playing around with a few other ideas and type styles, see below...

I'm going to start working on a few labels this week. I'll keep it hand drawn for a bit longer before jumping back on the Mac. It's really tempting to go back to using digital typefaces but I'm determined to stick with hand drawn. I can see now why it takes many hours of practise to get to a good standard! However, I do find the process very absorbing once I get into it and look forward to developing this skill over time.

I quite like the idea of Kernow Chilli Farm having lots of different 'logos' and ideas so the brand grows organically rather than becoming stale. That way I can keep pushing the typography and ideas yet still retain the identity of the core branding. Jon's work for Nike is a great example of what I mean, the designs are still very Nike but with Jon's style.

A few more sketches above, still having fun with this one!

Had a bit of a break but still sketching out ideas, quite like the feel of this one, playing around with textures and inverting on Photoshop.